The use of wigs, toupees, hair weaves and hair extensions has been practiced for many years and by many different cultures and civilizations. However, in the past few decades, there has been a growing trend to use hair weaves as an addition to women's existing hair, e.g., to provide better aesthetics, as well as to compensate for poor natural hair quality or to cover up thinning areas of the scalp. Although, this trend is present in most cultures, it has become increasing popular with women of African descent, who typically have naturally coarse and/or highly curled hair.
Hair weaves generally differ from conventional wigs by being an “add-on” component to the wearer's existing and partially visible hair. By adding hair weaves, the wearer has the advantage of adding fullness and style to her (or his) hair. Hair weaves usually are commercially available in packages containing 3-4 ounces of hair that has been sewn together in one or more layers to form a continuous strip. The hair length varies, usually within the range of 4-22 inches, wherein most wearers opt for 10-16 inches as a suitable length that allows for further trimming and styling.
Presently, conventional hair weaves are cut to the desired width and then attached to the user's existing hair by the following methods: (1) special clips are mostly used by Caucasian and Asian users having generally straight or wavy hair; however, these clips do not hold well onto African/black ethnic hair; (2) the hair weaves may be sewn onto the users' hair; and/or (3) the hair weaves may be glued onto the user's hair.
The issues related to the latter methods (i.e., gluing and/or sewing) are numerous, including: (1) sewing and gluing are time consuming and expensive; (2) sewing and gluing must be done by a hair dresser or a trained individual; (3) sewing and gluing do not allow for removal of weaves from time to time, e.g., to wash the owner's hair; and/or (4) gluing may cause allergies and emit undesired odors.
Accordingly, there exists a need for new and improved methods and devices for attaching hair weaves to a wearer's existing hair, especially those wearers having coarse hair, such as but not limited to African types of hair.